Week in Geek: Disney Closes LucasArts, Pee-Wee Herman Returns to TV, and More

By Jase Peeples April 5, 2013, 5:45 a.m.

These are the nerdy bits of news that had us geeking out this week.

Click the next page below to begin.

Disney Shuts Down LucasArts

On Wednesday, April 3, gaymers throughout the universe gasped when news broke that Disney was shutting down LucasArts — the video game development arm of LucasFilm. Kotaku reports over 150 people were laid off and the studio’s highly-anticipated projects Star Wars: First Assault and Star Wars 1313 have been cancelled.

“After evaluating our position in the games market, we’ve decided to shift LucasArts from an internal development to a licensing model, minimizing the company’s risk while achieving a broader portfolio of quality Star Wars games," LucasArts parent company LucasFilm said in a statement. "As a result of this change, we’ve had layoffs across the organization. We are incredibly appreciative and proud of the talented teams who have been developing our new titles.”

As Master Yoda might say, clouded the future of Star Wars games are.

Take a look back at the best of LucasArts in the video below.

Roger Ebert’s Gleaming Geeky Moments

While many may be mourning the death of film critic and LGBT ally Roger Ebert today, IGN has chosen a wonderful way to celebrate the man’s life and career by collecting several YouTube clips featuring his reviews of some of the most beloved films in all of geekdom.

Check out the clip below from a 1983 episode of Nightline featuring Ebert and his former At the Movies cohost Gene Siskel debating the finer points of Return of the Jedi with film critic John Simon. Deep down, Ebert was truly a fun-loving fanboy as well.

Pee-Wee Herman Joins Cast of Once Upona Time Spinoff

Deadline reports Paul Reubens, a.k.a. Pee-Wee Herman, is set to voice The White Rabbit in a new spinoff of ABC’s Once Upon a Time.

As you may have guessed from Reubens’ role, the spinoff will take place in Wonderland at a time before the onset of Regina the Evil Queen’s curse.

The show will follow the adventures of Alice (Sophie Lowe), Cyrus (Peter Gadiot), the Knave of Hearts (Michael Socha), and the Red Queen (Emma Rigby).

Other characters previously seen on Once Upon a Time are rumored to appear should the spinoff’s pilot make it to series.

Arrow and Teen Wolf Cast Members Heat up WonderCon

WonderCon, the younger (and smaller) sister convention of the almighty Comic-Con International took place last weekend in Anaheim, California. Cast members from several geektastic series were on hand, offering spoilers and generally upping the convention’s eye candy quotient.

Take a look at MTV Geek's red carpet interviews with the cast of Arrow and a clip from the Teen Wolf panel in the video below.